There Was No Wrong Way To Do The Avengers Costumes This Halloween

My roommate just sent me what could be my favorite Halloween costume of 2012: A bunch of guys decided to dress up as “Sexy Avengers,” which resulted in this amazing photo.

At first I thought they had gone all political and taken the female versions of The Avengers costumes; as my geek girl friends and I had sadly realized, these were much skimpier than the male versions. Instead, it looks like these guys cobbled together their titillating outfits from preexisting guys’ costumes. But the commentary is still there: They look utterly ridiculous, and they definitely can’t fight crime in those! (Especially the Captain America on the left who’s nearly falling out of his Daisy Dukes.)

By no means is this the only unique take on The Avengers this year. Thanks to San Diego Comic-Con, New York Comic-Con, and last night’s Halloween festivities, we’ve seen so many variations on the year’s best superhero team. This is why I love geek culture: Rather than just all buy the same costumes, these men and women decided to put their own spin on it. For instance, White Trash Avengers:

The spray-painted wife beater wins this, although I also have to give props to the carefully cultivated facial hair and frayed pants on all of these men. They’re instantly recognizable, yet the real punchline comes when they tell you what version of Joss Whedon‘s superheroes they actually are. Instant conversation-starter at a party!

Actually, the one who probably was the life of his party is this guy:

Yes he’s all of The Avengers in one. This guy and his coworkers were encouraged to dress up as Marvel’s heroes, so he decided to give himself an extra challenge by combining the best parts of each one. As you can see, he’s got Nick Fury’s eyepatch, Iron Man’s mask and chest reactor (a taplight, genius), Thor’s hair and hammer, Hawkeye’s arrow, Cap’s shirt and shield, Hulk’s legs, and Black Widow’s sleeves and gloves.

I wish that these guys had shown up at any of the bars I hit up last night, because I would’ve bought them all drinks. I only hope that whatever ensemble is the hot new costume next year — the cast of Catching Fire, perhaps? — they’ll give the same ingenious treatment.